1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a local cooling unit and a cooling system, and particularly, to a local cooling unit and a cooling system for locally cooling an electronic device, such as a computer and a server, which is placed in a server room.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with improvement in information processing techniques and development of Internet environments, the information processing amount which is required has increased. Data processing centers for processing various kinds of information in large volume are in the spotlight as businesses. For example, in a server room of a data processing center, a number of electronic devices such as computers and servers are installed in a concentrated state, and are continuously operated night and day. Generally, for installation of electronic devices in a server room, a rack mount method is employed. The rack mount method is a method for stacking racks, which house electronic devices by dividing the electronic devices according to the functional unit, on a cabinet in layers. A number of such cabinets (server racks) are arranged and disposed on the floor of a server room. These electronic devices which process information have rapidly improved in processing speed and processing capability. Thus, the heat generation amount from the electronic devices continues to increase.
As a cooling system for cooling electronic devices, there is known a cooling system including a plurality of racks which house electronic devices opposed to each other with a predetermined space (passage) interposed therebetween in a device room, and an air conditioner spaced apart in the predetermined space between the racks.
In such a cooling system, the air conditioner discharges a cooled air downward. Air for cooling is delivered to the predetermined space and sucked into the racks. Then, the cooled air is warmed by cooling the devices housed in the racks, and is blown out from the rear surfaces of the racks.
In the cooling system described above, however, a part of the exhaust heat air from the racks is not delivered to the air conditioner but is sucked into the racks, with the result that the exhaust heat air may recirculate.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-25451 discloses that a partition plate which is extendable/retractable in the height direction of racks is installed to prevent recirculation of exhaust heat air from the racks.